Champions League history instantly created during Man City vs Real Madrid clash.
Manchester City and Real Madrid became Champions League history makers straight from kick-off.
Two of European football’s heavyweights played out an enthralling encounter, which finished 3-2 to the reigning European champions.
Jude Bellingham scored the winner deep into stoppage-time with Carlo Ancelotti’s side all three of their goals in the second half.
The result leaves Pep Guardiola’s side with a mountain to climb going into the second leg of the play-off match on Wednesday February 19.
City under-performed in the league phase by winning just three of their eight matches to finish 22nd in the table.
Madrid fared a bit better with a final standing of 11th but it wasn’t enough to send them straight through to the knockout stage.
They are now competing in a two-legged play-off tie to decide who advances, with the first leg at the Etihad Stadium making history.
City vs Madrid is just the fourth ever European Cup/UEFA Champions League fixture to be played in four consecutive seasons.
Deportivo de La Coruna and Juventus were the trendsetters in the 2000/01 and 2003/04 seasons with four clashes between them.
Chelsea vs Liverpool entertained fans on five occasions from the 2004/05 campaign to 2008/09.
Arch-rivals Atletico Madrid and Madrid then met on four occasions, starting in the 2013/14 final until the 2016/17 season.
The 2021/22 and 2022/23 campaigns saw City and Madrid meet in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Last season it was a quarter-final clash between the two, but their latest fixture has come in a new stage of Europe’s elite competition.
One of Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen will meet City or Madrid in the last 16 following the outcome of the second leg on February 19.
City went 1-0 up at half time when Erling Haaland slotted home from close range as he latched onto Josko Gvardiol’s chest-down.
It took four minutes for the goal to be awarded with VAR forensically checking the marginal call on whether Gvardiol played the ball back to Haaland instead of forwards.
The away side levelled on the hour with a fortuitous Kylian Mbappe strike, as his attempted acrobatic effort saw his shin connect with the ball and bounce into the net.
“What have I just seen,” Troy Deeney said on commentary for talkSPORT.
“One of the world’s best footballers has just scored the best shank I’ve ever seen.”
City’s lead was restored on 80 minutes through Erling Haaland’s penalty but former player Brahim Diaz got Los Blancos level again as he fired in on the rebound after Ederson palmed Vinicius Jr’s strike into Diaz’s path.
And Bellingham scrambled home the winner in the third minute of stoppage time to give the holders one foot in the last 16.
